{"id":20307,"date":"2020-12-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/Life-Insurance-Blog\/hopelessness-and-despair-hitting-pandemic-worn-canadians\/"},"modified":"2020-12-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T05:00:00","slug":"hopelessness-and-despair-hitting-pandemic-worn-canadians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/hopelessness-and-despair-hitting-pandemic-worn-canadians\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopelessness and despair hitting pandemic-worn Canadians"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The winter season is likely to be even bleaker than usual this year as the dragging pandemic eats away at Canadians\u2019 mental well-being<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Drawing from a survey of 3,000 adult Canadians, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) in partnership with UBC researchers found 71% worried about the second wave of the virus, including 58% who were concerned about a loved one or family member dying.<\/p>\n

As winter season gets under way, only 21% of Canadian respondents said they felt hopeful, and 40% said their mental health has declined since March. The deterioration was reportedly worse among the unemployed (61%), those with pre-existing mental health issues (61%), and younger people between 18 and 24 years old (60%). Minorities including Indigenous peoples (54%), LGBTQ2+ individuals (54%), and those with a disability (50%) were similarly hard-hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cCold weather, uncertainty, eroded social networks and restrictions on holiday gatherings are hitting at a time when people are already anxious, hopeless and fearful that things are going to get worse,\u201d said Margaret Eaton, national CEO of CMHA.<\/p>\n

The survey, conducted in fall, found 10% of Canadians had recent thoughts or feelings of suicide, compared to 6% in the spring. Suicidal thoughts and feelings were especially elevated in subgroups such as LGBTQ2+ (28%), those with pre-existing mental illnesses or mental health issues (27%), and those with a disability (24%).<\/p>\n

\u201cParticularly concerning are the levels of suicidal thinking and self-harm, which have increased exponentially since before the pandemic and are further magnified in certain sub-groups of the population who were already experiencing stigma, exclusion, racism and discrimination,\u201d said lead researcher Emily Jenkins, a professor of nursing at UBC.<\/p>\n

Nearly four tenths (39%) of Canadians were worried about finances, particularly parents of minor children (48%) and those whose household incomes were less than $25,000 (51%) who reported financial concerns due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

People are adopting different coping strategies \u2013 some less healthy than others. Overall, 17% said they\u2019ve taken to using substances more; 20% said they\u2019re drinking alcohol more, 9% are turning more to cannabis, and 7% are increasing their usage of prescription medication.<\/p>\n

\u201ct’s encouraging that half of Canadians are exercising outdoors as a way to cope with the pandemic, but only 11 per cent are accessing virtual mental health services or supports<\/a>,\u201d said Anne Gadermann, co-lead researcher and professor at the School of Population and Public Health, UBC.<\/p>\n

Even before the pandemic, Canada\u2019s mental-healthcare system was falling short of people\u2019s needs, the CMHA said. Problems like long waitlists, access issues, inequity, and underfunding have only been underscored as the COVID-19 crisis continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cLengthy wait times are a problem, in part, because there has been a chronic underfunding of community-based mental health services and a reliance on intensive, high-cost services like hospitals and acute care,\u201d Eaton said. \u201cIf we fund community-level interventions, this will alleviate pressure on an acute-care system already hit hard by COVID-19\u2014and get people the help they need sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the original article at https:\/\/www.lifehealthpro.ca\/rss\/ <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The winter season is likely to be even bleaker than usual this year as the dragging pandemic eats away at Canadians\u2019 mental well-being. Drawing from a survey of 3,000 adult Canadians, the Canadian Mental...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}